Sunset Boulevard

Glenn Close returns to Broadway in the tour de force performance that earned her a Tony Award®–and a place in Broadway history–in a new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1995 Tony-winning masterwork of dreams and desires in the land called Hollywood.

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ABOUT THE SHOW

In her mansion on Sunset Boulevard faded, silent-screen goddess Norma Desmond (Glenn Close) lives in a fantasy world. Impoverished screen writer Joe Gillis, on the run from debt collectors, stumbles into her reclusive world. Persuaded to work on Norma’s “masterpiece,” a film script that she believes will put her back in front of the cameras, he is seduced by her and her luxurious lifestyle. Joe becomes entrapped in a claustrophobic world until his love for another woman leads him to try and break free, with dramatic consequences.

TRIVIA

This production features a 40-piece orchestra, said to be the largest ever to perform on a Broadway stage.

Glenn Close won the Tony Award as Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Norma Desmond in the original production of Sunset Boulevard. According to the Tony Awards rules, she is thus ineligible to be considered for a Tony in this production, since she has already won for a performance in the role.

HISTORY

With a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber and book and lyrics by Don Black and Les Liaisons Dangereuses’s Christopher Hampton, Sunset Boulevard originally premiered in London’s West End in 1993. The American premiere was at the Shubert Theatre in Century City, Los Angeles later that year with Glenn Close as Norma. The musical moved to Broadway in 1994 and won 7 Tony Awards including Best Musical. This production originated in London at the English National Opera in April, 2016. The musical is based on the 1950 Billy Wilder film of the same title.